The invention relates to a transmitter cylinder used in a hydraulic system, that is the hydraulic brake system of an automotive vehicle, or the like.
There are a great variety of transmitter cylinders for hydraulic systems. Their function is to hydraulically convert the force coming from an actuating member, to control it, to amplify it in certain cases and to conduct it via hydraulic conduits to actuating members, such as receiver cylinders. In automobiles, hydraulic brake systems are used alongside of transmitter cylinders, particularly for hydraulic clutch systems. Such transmitter cylinders are known as master brake cylinders and are used in many embodiments. In addition to simple master brake cylinders, there are tandem master cylinders for hydraulic dual-circuit brake systems. The inner structure of the master cylinders is comprised of a plurality of pistons, pressure chambers, packings and return springs and are in part relatively complicated. Up to now, such transmitter cylinders have been closed after their assembly by a stop disk and a retaining ring inserted into a groove in the cylinder bore and fixed thereby axially in space (see German patent application No. OS 30 29 015).
Cylinder repair may be needed when, for instance, a seal has started to leak as a result of wear. To make the repair, authorized contract workshops take the brake cylinders apart, replace the packing and reassemble the transmitter cylinder and close it. However, laymen or those without adequate training also attempt to repair a defective brake cylinder. Due to the complicated construction of these cylinders, mistakes are constantly made in assembling the individual parts, and in some cases, very sensitive parts, such as sealing lips, are improperly handled. The result is a failure of the brake system which sometimes takes place only at a later time and may lead to dangerous traffic accidents.